The Martian loops
by Ghost of Los Angeles
Summary: Poor Mark Whitney what did he ever do to deserve this welcome to the infinite loops Mark welcome to and welcome to an eternity on Mars. This is not my work. Cross-posted with permission go to space battles to find the original thread.


The Martian: Loop 1

Log entry: Sol 6

I'm pretty much fucked.

That is my considered opinion.

I'm also insane.

That is also my considered opinion.

These last few days should have been the first of the two greatest months in my life, and it turned into a nightmare with a extra dose of insanity added to it.

For the record... I did not die on Sol 6, although I may have hit my head to hard besides becoming a Martian shish kebab. By rights I should be dead and I don't blame the rest of the crew for believing I was.

Ugh, this sense of déjà vu is driving me crazy. I'm wondering who will read these logs, but at the same time I remember them going public and everybody reading them. My crazy rambling being turned into a worldwide best selling novel was a surprise.

More on that later.

Let's see. Where to begin?

The Ares program. Humanities outreach to Mars and to get a person on the surface of another planet. You know the rest, and I'm not going to bore you with it. Ares 1 came to Mars and the crew was greeted back on Earth as heroes. Parades and all. Ares 2 did the same but somewhere else on Mars and got a handshake and a cup of coffee when they got back.

Ares 3 is where I come in.

I'm Mark Watney and the Ares 3 botanist, engineer and the lowest ranked crew member out of six. Commander of the mission is Lewis and the only way for me to be in charge is to be the last one left. Guess what. I'm the last one left.

Just for the record: If you guys are reading this it is not your fault. Had the situation been reversed I'd have done the same thing.

The way a mars mission works is that NASA starts sending what are called pre-supply missions to the landing site. Why do this? Weight. The Lander that we use to get to the surface can carry only so much. So they send as much as possible ahead. This includes the ship that is supposed to get us back into orbit. In fact the last thing we had to do before coming down to the surface was having our pilot (Martinez) land the Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) for the Ares 4 mission.

We, the astronauts, get to mars on the single most expensive thing ever build, Hermes. It's a big space ship that uses several ion engines hooked up to a nuclear reactor. It's supposed to last all six missions and carries all the supplies for the round trip and anything for the surface that can't be send ahead.

Once we get into Mars orbit we take the Mars Decent Vehicle (MDV) down to the surface, set up the Hab(itat) and spend the next 30 days doing SCIENCE! before getting into the MAV for the return trip to Hermes and finally Earth.

So what happened?

Well, we landed on Sol 1. (FYI: Martian days are called a Sol. They don't line up correctly to a standard 24h earth day. So when on the surface we work to Martian time to not mess up our sleeping patterns) Following the checklist we went about our assigned tasks. Setting up the Hab (home away from home) checking MAV, checking the rovers and using them to get the previously landed supplies to the hab and a hundred other things that needed to be done. Over the next few days we started doing the experiments and sampe collecting that NASA had scheduled for us.

This morning (sol 6) is when we ran into trouble. Satellites in orbit spotted a storm and the weather stations we had set up were showing increased wind speeds and gusts. A little storm isn't a problem. Our stuff is designed to take a beating. After all, some equipment like the MAV spends years here before we show up. There are, however, limits and the biggest is the MAV. If the winds get higher then 150kph it is in danger of tipping and mission gets scrubbed. This is what happened. winds reached 150kph and NASA gave the order to abort.

We went out in pairs towards the MAV. During my trip the main communications antenna of the Hab came lose, hit me, threw me a few hundred feet and finally impaled me trough the suit and killed the bio monitor. The others couldn't find me and believed me dead. They made the right decision and left.

I woke up two hours ago buried in sand with the suits alarms blaring. I had a suit breach, but had landed in such a way that the piece of antenna stuck inside me put enough torque on the breach to keep it manageable for the suit's live support. My own blood then made a weak seal as the liquid boiled off and left gunk surrounding the antenna. The suit had spend it's CO2 scrubber and had been venting to keep the CO2 under control, refilling nitrogen. Once that ran out it used the O2 tank. The warnings that I woke up to were those for the empty tanks and having way to much oxygen in the air I was breathing. Oxygen poisoning is a thing and I was in danger of dying because of it. The high oxygen content also woke me up, so mixed blessings.

Long story short I pulled the antenna out, sealed the hole with the breach kit, made it to the hab, despaired when I saw the MAV was gone and that the comm gear was missing, got inside, stitched the wound and am now sitting here making this log.

So why am I fucked? Glad you asked.

I have food, if I don't ration, for 300 sols. I can't contact Earth or Hermes as the main dish is gone and the backups ran trough the MAV. The suit and rover radio's have a 40km range at best. Earliest rescue is about 1200 sols away when Ares 4 lands. If the hab breaches I'm dead. If the oxygenator breaks, I'm dead. If the water reclaimer dies, I'm dead. So I'm stuck here with limited supplies, no way to let anybody know and if something critical breaks I die not long after.

I'm fucked.

Now why I'm also insane.

I've done this already. I spend my time on Mars. SIENCED the shit out of things, colonised Mars by growing potatoes, got shot out of the Hab like a cannonball while inside airlock one, turned the rovers into a Martian DIY redneck truck with trailer, drove 3200km to the Ares 4 MAV in Schiaparelli, launched into space under a tarp and made it back to Earth onboard Hermes after the crew came back for me.

I have a complete set of memories doing all of that and several years of teaching up and coming astronauts in Houston. The weirdest thing is that they feel more real then then everything that just happened here on Mars. Last thing I remember is going to bed in my flat in Houston and suddenly here I am, sitting in front of this terminal about to make my first log.

The memories of the last few hours here on Mars are there, they are mine, and yet they feel separate to the others. 'Secondary' is also a good word for it.

What is going on? I have no fucking idea. Best guess is that I'm dreaming or I'm lying in a hospital after having a seizure and my brains are slowly dribbling out of my ears while imagining all of this. I don't know what is worse. My brain dribbling out of my ears or that "ground hog day" is a thing.

I really don't want to do this all over again. I really, really absolutely don't want to do this over and over again. So please let it be dreaming or dribbling.

Ah, fuck it.

I'm going to take one of those sleeping pill I apparently vowed never to take again and wake up next to that pretty brunette Johansson introduced me to.

Log entry: Sol 7

Right. I have some good news and some bad news.

Let's start with the bad:

\- I woke up late and groggy as all hell. I really shouldn't have come anywhere near that bottle with sleeping pills.

\- I did not wake up in my own bed, next to a pretty brunette in Houston.

\- I'm still here on this god forsaken dustbowl named after a chocolate candy bar.

Seems like I'm really going to have to do this thing all over again... Well Shit!

The good news:

I've started doing an inventory of the hab and have done most of the diagnostics on the critical equipment. I've checked the oxygenator, water reclaimer, hab computer, the hab structure and did a quick check on my supplies. So far everything is in good shape and matching up with my memories. That includes the spuds. The potatoes were exactly where I found them "last time".

The only thing not matching up is that the hab is running on battery power. Because I woke up late I haven't been able to do the EVA and clean the solar panels, so that makes perfect sense.

Speaking of EVA, that's next on the agenda. I'm going to do a quick walk around the hab, wipe the solar panels clean, take a look at what is left of the antenna and look over the Rovers. If everything keeps matching up we get to what is the one and only piece of actual good news in this entire fracked up situation: foreknowledge.

Assuming I find everything as I seem to be remembering it I'll have a major advantage. I'll know what works and what doesn't and the rough timeline of events. Like how to get that extra 300L of water I'll need for my potato farm that I know I'll need to set up and that I should use airlock 1 as little as possible unless I want to be 'Watney, the Martian pinball' again.

Now excuse me as I go prepare for an EVA and scream at the heavens for putting me through this again.

Log Entry: Sol 7 continued.

Ok, I just got back in from my EVA. I spend just about all the available day light outside checking things over.

Everything lines up with my memories. The highlights are:

\- The MAV is gone, but the descent stage with the fuel plant is intact.

\- MDV on it's side with a breach in the hull.

\- Rovers buried but easy to dig out.

\- Solar panels covered in dirt, but I wiped those clean

\- Main communications dish is gone with the wind and the antenna is a ruin. I'm not even going to search for the comm dish. Never found a trace of it last time around and I'm not going to waste those two days.

One thing I did do right away was run a power line from the hab to the MAV fuel plant. It's sucking in the atmosphere and storing the carbon dioxide at 10L every 20 hours. I'll need that CO2 sooner or later for its oxygen in the quest to create water. Might as well get this part of the process started.

Speaking of water, I'm going to create as much as I can store and transport in the rovers. If it comes down to operation Elrond, the Rick Purnell manoeuvre and getting launched into space at 12G on a stripped down MAV the Ares 4 MAV fuel plant will need every drop of hydrogen for fuel that it can get. Last time I had 550L when I arrived at Schiaparelli. I'm hoping for more if it comes down to it. The guys having to blow the airlock was way to close for comfort.

I also did a quick check on the hydrazine tanks on the MDV. They're there, intact and waiting for when I start creating water. Hope I don't blow myself up this time.

I've started on digging the rovers out, but kept it to a slow pace. I don't want to open my wound again. I've got Rover 2, my lucky Rover, free to the point I could drive it free. I'll finish that up tomorrow and start on Rover 1. Once that is finished I'll start moving dirt inside for the farm.

Speaking of dirt, something else I have to do that I'm not looking forward to: digging up the crews old shit, adding my new shit and recreating the manure I need for the soil.

Final thing I have to do tomorrow is inspect airlock 1. I've been alternating airlocks 2 and 3, but I'll need two airlocks for the rover pop tents once I've got enough soil for them. If I use airlock 1 for one of those it will reduce the stress on the seal around it a lot, but not completely. Since my best bet is still the Ares 4 mission this place will have to last until Sol 1412. Might have to come up with a way to reinforce the seals around the airlocks. Something to think about.

Well, that's most of the short term stuff planned out.

Next major event, assuming I don't blow myself up playing with rocket fuel is sol 49. That's when NASA makes a picture of the Ares 3 site and figures out I'm alive. I'll probably leave out a message for them, but I've got enough to keep me busy until then and plenty of time to figure out what to say.

I'm going to eat dinner, relax some and get a good nights sleep.

.

.

.

.

Oh god!

I'd forgotten

The disco... god have mercy.

Log Entry: Sol 10

I've started moving dirt into the hab, but just like last time it is back breaking work and slow going. What makes it even slower is that I'm taking it easy with the hole in my side. I want it to stay closed and heal, unlike like the first time around where one of the staples let lose. Still, I am a few sols ahead of schedule. If I remember correctly it was sol 15 before I started filling the hab with dirt. I'll start preparing soil when I've got the first 62m2 inside. Should be around sol 18.

I'll start water production after the first two doublings. It will take two and a half weeks to produce the needed carbon dioxide even if I boost the pump on the fuel plant again. With that and each soil doubling taking a week I have plenty of time to get the 134m2 of farm area covered in 10cm of dirt.

Yes you read that correctly. 134m2 of farmland. Not 126m2.

"But Mark, Where did you get that extra 8m2?"

Glad you asked. I believe I mentioned airlock 1 in the past. The one that shot out of the hab like bullet with me inside? Ring a bell? I decided that I can't risk using it at all. The hab needs to last the 1425 earth days it will take for Ares 4 to get here, and every time I cycle that airlock it puts stress on a known weak spot. Even if I somehow reinforce it, it would still be weaker then the other two airlocks. Alternating airlock 2 and 3 lasted me up to the day I left for Schiaparelli without issue or visible damage, so i'll just keep doing that.

Here is where my clever idea comes in. If I don't use that airlock but leave the inner door open I get another 8m2 of floor space that I can cover with dirt and grow taters in. I did the math and that pushes my food supply from lasting until sol 900 to just over sol 1050. I'd now be growing slightly over 930 calories a day instead of the 850-ish from last time. Still not the 1100 calories I need to last without a NASA supply mission, but better then before and giving me a bigger buffer.

Talking about airlock 1, I went out and checked the seals. Can't see anything, but I didn't expect too. By the time the damage would be visible It would probably be to late anyway. I do have a plan to reinforce it and the seals on the other two. It involves a couple of strips of the spare hab canvas and liberal application of sealant. Should still end up using less of both compared to the airlock blowing out and having to fix the hole.

Not sure when I'm going to do that, but getting the farm up and running takes priority.

Last thing I did past few days is set up the pop tents from the rovers. I still for the live of me can't figure out how to hook them up to the hab airlocks. So I'm going with plan A and and hooking up the hoses to the hab and just taking the atmosphere loss.

Now excuse me while I go take a shit in a box.

Log Entry: Sol 22

So far so good.

As expected I had the first 62m2 of soil in the hab on sol 18. Like last time I sectioned of 5m2, added water, the content of the manure box (Oh god, the smell!) and the garden soil NASA provided. First doubling should be should be on sol 24 or 25.

The farm is coming along.

That reminds me. I've come up with a plan to give my poor old nose some relief. I found NASA's off brand version of Icy Hot in the medical supplies. It has menthos in it. So I dabbed a little on the collar of my sweat shirt and now I can't smell anything but the extra minty freshness.

Not planning on using it that often. I may need it at some point.

I actually completely forgot I had this stuff. Could have come in handy last time when I hurt my back working on rover 1.

Next bit of news is that I've got my hydrazine to hydrogen to water rig setup, released two bottles of liquid CO2 and carved up Martinez's cross again. Commander Lewis' suit has also been moved into position to act as cistern.

Same plan as last time, but without turning the Hab into the Hindenburg or blowing myself blowing myself up. So regular hydrogen clean up parties between releasing the hydrazine over the catalyst. Just in case I removed the atmosphere analyser from rover 1 and dragged it in here. The hab atmosphere regulator doesn't detect hydrogen. The analysers from the rovers do. At the very least I now have a warning system in case I release to much hydrogen without it burning.

That's the plan for the next few days. Make water while waiting for the next soil doubling. After the soil doubling I'll go back to dragging in the rest of the dirt, finishing the water making after that's done. The break in dragging dirt will also be good for my back.

I've had the time to think about sol 49 and NASA figuring out I'm alive. I don't want to leave it to chance.

I have a cunning plan.

Log Entry: Sol 39

Everything is working out so far and I haven't blown myself up.

I have all the soil in the hab and pop tents, converted the hydrazine into 620L of water and just completed the third soil doubling.

The first of the potatoes are also in the ground for seed stock. Like last time I cut each of them into 4 sections, making sure each section had two eyes, and left them to harden a bit. Using a small section of the cultivated soil to plant them in. If everything keeps going to script I should be able to dig the new taters up and replant them between Sol 70 and 80 and have the first crop between sol 110 and 120. Probably closer to 120. Here's hoping I actually get to make that hoe and outdoor storage shed that I was planning before airlock 1 blew.

Nothing else I can do as far as the farm goes. At this point I need to do two more soil doublings to get the amount of farmable soil I need. Next one is scheduled for sol 46.

I'm about where I expected to be time wise. I knew I've said I was ahead of schedule a few times, but it was never that much and I used several days taking it easy in an effort to not ruin my back and keep the hole in my side closed. That has healed quite nicely by the way. Thanks for asking. One thing that has given me a few extra days was doing the water production early.

I now have 9 days, minus a few hours for a soil doubling, to enact my 'Cunning Plan' and give Mindy Park a heart attack. As such I'll be heading out to the MDV tomorrow morning. Between it, the MAV decent stage, what is left of the comm antenna and the magical powers of duct tape I should be able to do what I have in mind.

Maybe I should start learning German so I can read the stuff Vogel brought? 70's TV, Hercule Poirot novels and the never ending amounts of disco only get you so far.


End file.
